Chapter 8

He

“NiuNiu.” Dai Wenchun’s face was no longer smiling, his eyes filled with disappointment and worry.

“You’re less than nine months away from turning twenty-nine. Wedding preparations need to be booked two or three years in advance. You can skip the wedding for now, if you think it’s good, take the person to the temple and ask the monks to take a look, if it’s not suitable, you can change it. But now you’re not doing anything, you haven’t even taken the first step, what do you want to do? When do you want to get married? Can you give your aunt a definite answer?”

Dai Wenchun blocked several attempts to explain. Seeing her take out her phone, He Chuyue pressed her fingers too hard, and in the pain, she became anxious.

“I really have a boyfriend, why don’t you believe me?”

“You’re pressing your finger again! Did you bleed?” Dai Wenchun impatiently stuffed a tissue into her hand.

“You have a boyfriend, right? Okay, when did you meet? When did you start dating? How long have you been dating? What does he do? Is he busy with work? Where is he from? How many people are there in his family? What do his parents do? Does he have any siblings? Is he good to you?”

A barrage of questions mixed with the rich aroma of coffee came at her. He Chuyue didn’t even bother to wipe the blood, she hurriedly took a sip of lemonade to suppress the nausea, took a breath and said, “His name is Xiao Zhiyan, he’s a biochemistry professor at Peking University.”

She deliberately blurred his part-time lab situation. He Chuyue knew her aunt cared more about this than she did, and she just wanted Xiao Zhiyan to pass this test first.

She picked what she knew and continued to blur the details.

“We are the same age, we both went to Peking University for our undergraduate degrees. At the beginning of the year, Teacher Chen organized a reunion for our classmates and introduced us. He’s handsome and gentle, he’s my type. We’ve been dating for almost a year. Last month, we went to Teacher Chen’s farewell party for his immigration. You can ask your uncle, he’ll know for sure.”

Finally, she added, “His parents live abroad, they have a listed company in Canada. He has an older brother who runs an AI company in China, with a bright future.”

From the moment He Chuyue paused for the first time, Dai Wenchun wanted to expose her, but the more she listened, the more it seemed to make sense, and it even involved Qin Tai. This made Dai Wenchun unsure.

“Who did your uncle ask?”

Qin Tai taught at Peking University High School, which was affiliated with Peking University. Although the two campuses were some distance apart, Qin Tai had built up relationships over the years, so it wouldn’t be difficult for him to find out about a certain teacher at Peking University.

Dai Wenchun remembered that she had introduced many male teachers from Peking University and Peking University High School to her niece in the past, although the results were not satisfactory, at least Qin Tai’s connections were used.

It wouldn’t be the case that he lost his connections when it came to finding a partner for his niece. He Chuyue recalled a few names in her mind and casually picked one: “Isn’t my high school classmate the son of Teacher Sun who is in your uncle’s next class? You can ask him.”

Dai Wenchun was half-believing, and before calling her husband, she probed, “So, should I call your uncle now?”

“Okay.”

Five minutes later, the phone on the table lit up, and He Chuyue also saw the confirmation sent by her uncle, and she curved her eyes.

“Do you still doubt it, aunt? Should I ask Rantan to send you his information so you can take a closer look?”

Dai Wenchun, who had received a positive answer, was already unconsciously smiling, but when she heard He Chuyue say this, she stopped smiling, looking at her.

“You’ve been dating for a whole year?”

“Yes.” Her voice was weak.

“Why are you telling me now?” She frowned, thinking of something. “Was it him who came with you when I was in the hospital? You denied that you were dating back then, now it’s become a whole year of dating?”

He Chuyue, who had already thought of this layer, sat up straight and presented the prepared logic vividly.

“I also wanted to tell you after things settled down. Besides, we don’t see each other often, and we had a fight a while back, I wanted to break up with him. That day, he asked me out for breakfast to try to win me back, and when he found out you were in the hospital, he went with me.”

“You were having breakfast and you had low blood ”

“Then! I hadn’t even finished two bites of breakfast when I got a call, I ran in a hurry, which caused my low blood sugar, and it gave him a chance to show himself. It was because of this that we got back together.”

“Oh.” Dai Wenchun pondered.

“Then you call him.”

“Why call him?” He Chuyue wanted to cry.

Who knows where Xiao Zhiyan is on a weekend!

“Although what you said makes sense, although your uncle also said that the times of the two gatherings are right, and the people are right, but is there a necessary connection between the existence of such a person in Peking University and whether he is your boyfriend?”

He Chuyue rubbed her forehead.

Her aunt pressed on, “Is there, Lawyer He?”

“No.” Rubbing her aching forehead, Lawyer He gave a firm answer, “Your logic is really strong, aunt.” You couldn’t be tricked even after going through all that trouble.

“Don’t flatter me, I’m not buying your act, call him quickly.”

“He’s definitely busy, otherwise he would reply to my messages instantly.”

“Then show me your chat history.”

He Chuyue’s finger pressing on the phone twitched, her face remained impassive: “There’s nothing interesting in the chat history, wait for me ” to collate the evidence so you can check it again, woo woo.

“Call!” Dai Wenchun was about to grab her phone, her trust in her had dropped to its lowest point. “NiuNiu, if this call really goes through today, and the person on the other end is your boyfriend Xiao— ”

She reminded her obsequiously, “Xiao Zhiyan.”

Dai Wenchun didn’t appreciate it: “I know! It’s Xiao Zhiyan, then your aunt won’t question you anymore, and won’t force you to go on blind dates anymore.”

When she heard the last sentence, He Chuyue’s eyes lit up, then after sorting out the logic, she realized it was useless.

She had collaborated with Xiao Zhiyan to avoid blind dates, and now she was trying to prove that he was Xiao Zhiyan to avoid blind dates, why was she going through this back and forth verification?

“How is it?”

He Chuyue laughed dryly, then heard Dai Wenchun warn her, “If it’s not him, be honest, He Chuyue! Go on blind dates if you have to, get married if you have to!”

In front of the mirror in the detached villa, two men stood with their backs to the staircase, fiddling with something, they didn’t even notice someone coming.

“What are you two looking at?”

Xiao Wenqi turned around first, immediately greeting her, “Wife, Zhiyan is managing his expressions in front of the mirror.”

“Why?” Xue Lu looked at Xiao Zhiyan, who was trying to smile but looked awkward, and withdrew her gaze. “Are you kidding me?”

“He’s in love.”

“Really?”

Xue Lu had been in love with Xiao Wenqi for five years, and she also had a certain understanding of the silent and taciturn younger brother of the Xiao family. As for love, it was really strange to be associated with this “monster” who had always had a cold face.

Xiao Wenqi put his arm around Xue Lu’s back, facing away from the people, and lowered his voice, “I’m afraid he’ll be cheated again.”

“Why?”

Xue Lu felt that Xiao Zhiyan was intelligent, although he had never been in love, he wouldn’t be cheated to that extent.

“Take his childhood as an example, and you’ll understand.”

Xiao Zhiyan and Xiao Wenqi were brothers separated by three years. Because their parents were often abroad, their grandparents missed their grandchildren but didn’t want to immigrate. Over time, the parents accumulated emotions but couldn’t think of a solution, they were caught in a dilemma.

On the day of the old people’s birthday, six-year-old Xiao Zhiyan suddenly said he wouldn’t leave, he would stay in Beicheng, stay with his grandparents.

A six-year-old child having this kind of filial piety undoubtedly touched the elders in the family, but in the evening, Xiao Wenqi followed Xiao Zhiyan, who was sneaking around, pushing open the door of their house and walking to a house near the village head.

He saw a little girl, also sneaking around, running out, holding something, exchanging it. Before he could jump out from behind the tree, he heard his younger brother’s solemn promise, he almost slipped and fell to his death.

Xue Lu was curious, “What did Zhiyan say?”

“He said, okay, wife.”

Xue Lu was confused, Xiao Wenqi supplemented the story, “Later I found out, grandma was not well, she was worried that if she suddenly passed away, she wouldn’t have a chance to explain, so she took advantage of the fact that no one was around to give the ring that had been passed down to Zhiyan, saying that whoever wore the ring was his wife. Maybe the girl was wearing the ring while they were playing, and Zhiyan was so stubborn that he believed it. Luckily, the girl disappeared later, and Zhiyan didn’t get deeper into it, but I feel that this incident still had an impact on him.”

Xue Lu suddenly realized, then she found that this was something Xiao Zhiyan would do, she couldn’t help but worry, “He hasn’t been in love for so many years, is he waiting for the girl? Has the girl who wears the ring come back?”

“I secretly investigated that girl later, her mother died, her father ran away, her grandfather in the village also died not long after her mother, she’s nowhere to be found, how could she come back?”

He sighed, “I don’t know who the other person is, but they actually made the aloof and indifferent Zhiyan fall in love.”

Xue Lu smiled and comforted him, “It’s good like this now, if the two of them can stabilize and solve Mom’s biggest worry, you won’t suspect that he likes men anymore.”

Xiao Wenqi, “You’re saying that my worries are justified.”

In the corner where Xiao Zhiyan was trying hard, he didn’t notice the two pairs of complex gazes behind him.

“Zhiyan, your phone is ringing.” The nanny brought the phone over.

“Thank you.”

Xiao Zhiyan looked at the caller ID and answered.

“Old Xiao, I have some big news for you, you’ve been targeted again!”

“What?”

“Just now, my mom called to ask about you! My mom is a teacher in the high school department, right, the teacher in her next class just asked about you, he has a daughter, she’s my high school school belle, he must be trying to match you up— ”

The vibration in his palm made Xiao Zhiyan move his phone to check it.

Caller.

He Chuyue.

Beep beep beep.

Busy tone, another busy tone.

He Chuyue dared not look at Dai Wenchun’s face anymore, afraid of being slapped to death on the spot.

“Aunt.”

“Don’t call me! I’m not your aunt!”

Dai Wenchun was so angry that she was trembling, she didn’t even care that they were outside, their actions attracted the attention of a small group of people.

“Are you trying to deceive me or yourself? Am I doing this for you or for myself? Why are you just— ”

“Beep— ”

The phone on the table vibrated, interrupting the aunt and niece’s argument.

Two bold characters appeared in her field of vision, He Chuyue was grateful that she had changed Xiao Zhiyan’s default note to “Baby” first, she sighed in admiration of her own cleverness, while carefully observing Dai Wenchun’s face.

The latter’s smile disappeared when she met her gaze, she tightened her face and ordered, “Don’t you answer?”

“Answer!”

Extremely obsequiously, He Chuyue pressed the answer button, her voice was contrived.

“Baby, why did you just answer?”